The present invention relates generally to wheelchairs and to improvements therein. People who are required to use a wheelchair often find it very difficult and sometimes impossible to maneuver the wheelchair and themselves through narrow doorways, like those installed on bathrooms and some other rooms of buildings. Most of these doorways are only about twenty-three and one-half inches wide and the full, extended width of a conventional wheelchair is twenty-six inches wide.
It is obvious, then, that some means such as an attachment to the wheelchair is necessary to shrink laterally the width of the wheelchair so that it and the occupant can pass through such narrow doors. Such a wheelchair attachment should be readily available and, preferably, carried on the wheelchair in a convenient location. It should be readily and easily attachable and in some instances, may be kept attached to the wheelchair at all times.
Devices for reducing or shrinking the lateral width of a wheelchair are known from the prior art and from U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,937,490; 4,264,085; and 4,375,295.